He wasn't trying to be rude; he was merely fending off an uncomfortable subject.
Every ounce of willpower went into fending off hysteria.
He compared his conduct in that great post to that of a man floating down a river and fending off from his vessel, as well as he could, the various obstacles it encountered.
Being sent out into the wilderness for a night of camping and fending for themselves.
Crusoe's shipwreck and adventures, his finding the footprint in the sand, his man "Friday," - the whole atmosphere of romance which surrounds the position of the civilized man fending for himself on a desert island - these have made Defoe's great work an imperishable part of English literature.
